Axis History Forum

This is an apolitical forum for discussions on the Axis nations and related topics hosted by the Axis History Factbook in cooperation with Christian Ankerstjerne’s Panzerworld and Christoph Awender's WW2 day by day.
Founded in 1999.

Could anyone help me with some info on how much post-war use there was by other nations/factions of the smaller Japanese naval vessels, for example craft like Torpedo Boats, Motor Gunboats, Landing Craft, etc?

Since these sorts of craft would be generally cheaper to operate than larger vessels like cruisers or destroyers, I thought perhaps they might have been suitable to some of the emerging post-colonial navies in Asia, but I don't know much about this subject.

There maybe and I hope there is something newer. but in English the starting point would be Shizuo Fukui, Japanese Naval Vessels at the End of World War II. Beginning on page 68 he starts on "Miscellaneous vessels," In Chinese (can not recall what book in UCLA collection) a long list of minor craft, landing, patrol boats, etc on different pages regarding location. (I don't read Chinese, hired a student to sit with me and translate different things of interest.) Republic of China I suspect by now would provide a good list and someone on the USSR board maybe able to help regarding Manchuria and Korea. Since the former colonial powers were still there and independence on the horizon, records are firstly colonial. Try the KNIL board for Indonesia. Good luck and thanks for participating.

@jerryasher Thank you for your encouragement. Regarding Soviets and Manchuria which you mentioned, I am already aware of several former Manchukuoan naval vessels which ended up in Soviet hands after the war (such as river gunboats Shuntian and Yang Min, which were commissioned into Soviet service as KL-55 and KL-57). It's actually what peaked my curiosity about whether IJN gunboats and other smaller vessels were also reused by other nations.

There were not many serviceable vessels left at the end of hostilities. Many Allied nations expected to have a reparations claim on IJN vessels. A number (cruisers and carriers) were used to repatriate Japanese forces and civilians. At the Moscow Conference in December 1945 Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov suggested division. In the end it was agreed that all Japanese capital ships would be scuttled and the others shared. Later General MacArthur's SCAP Administration in Tokyo declared unilaterally that any Japanese vessel needing more than 60 days to repair to make seaworthy was to be scrapped on economic grounds (to go towards Japan's steel needs). That covered most of them. There's a bit more detail in my book MOUNTBATTEN'S SAMURAI: IMPERIAL JAPANESE FORCES UNDER BRITISH CONTROL, 1945-1948 (pp, 213-214).